tell me how would it work if the national security agency would tap the cell phone of senior leader of an allied government, who would have made that decision and what would the process have been? >> it depends on the senior leader. depends on the intelligence requirements. very often, fareed, what you get are very specific intelligence requirements from our national command authority and they are laid out to the intelligence community and then the intelligence community goes forward and lays out a collection plan the best way to get that very needed information. occasionally, fareed, occasionally, what you have is political guidance kind of being placed on top of your operational planning. i had political guidance while i was director of nsa. i had targets. i had legitimate needs. but i was told, frankly, back off. that target is too sensitive. i don't want you doing that at this time for this purpose. >> does that mean that somebody in the white house very high up would have had to say in 2002 -- this is the george w. bush white house -- somebody would have had to say it is okay to s